Stents May Reduce Heart Attacks By Delivering Downstream Medication, Cleveland Clinic Study

Researchers at Cleveland Clinic have discovered that cardiac patients receiving medicated stents – a procedure that occurs often when blood vessels are blocked – have a lower likelihood of suffering heart attacks or developing new blockages in the vessel downstream from the stent. Stents have been used to prevent re-narrowing of coronary arteries after balloon angioplasty and newer designs have included coatings with medications to prevent re-narrowing from occurring within the stent after implantation. The recent study – led by Richard Krasuski, M.D., Director of Adult Congenital Heart Disease Services and a staff cardiologist in the Section of Clinical Cardiology in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic ¬– suggests that these medicated stents may deliver the medication to the vessel beyond the stent.